Burgers and Shakes - Essay Example

One of the biggest entities in the United s, and in the world, is the overwhelming body of the fast food corporations. Pushing burgers and shakes into every consumer's hands, they process food and fabricate their facts, making sure that the consumer goes away happy, and while the consumer may not know it, a little less healthy. When these corporations get their message across, the end result is Parents who seek a convenient and inexpensive way to feed their children, and do so with fast food, which has led to the popularity of it. And that is the way the corporations are made. They are modeled after success, and as long as you go away with food in hand, they really could care less about the effects it has on you, or your life down the long road. This is what Eric Schlosser took a deep look into in the book Fast Food Nation. Using witty examples and biting realism, Schlosser was able to tear apart the wrapper surrounding the Big Mac that is the fast food industry. Showing the whole what they really were eating, Schlosser offered a unique journalistic look into the making, formation, and distribution of the one of the most beloved things in America: Food. The companies probably weren't expecting this to happen. They were safe under the wrappers they had made, and didn't want people to know how unhealthy the food is, and how it really is all part of a consumer fraud in a way, where the supplier is supplying the consumer with something that is unhealthy while making no attempts to change this. As even with a book like this, the fast food continues to pile up, and American continues to become the fattest nation in the world. A common factor here Fast food. One of the main reasons the companies do as good as they do is their products. In today's fast paced society, everybody is busy, hustling around, always moving. We live in a very fast paced society, and time is money. And everybody needs to eat, but not everybody can find the time to sit down at an expensive meal. Money is also an issue here. Some people can't afford to eat out all the time. The state of families is not what is was years ago, and in effect, is causing more people to eat out compared to what they used to. So here comes fast food to save the day. Offering a quick and easy solution to each of these problems, fast food is quick, easy, cheap and simple. It offers a quick hamburger to a busy businessman, or to a family who only has a spare few minutes in which time they need to eat dinner. Fast food offers all of these solutions, and with new to go orders and serving sizes, the convenience only continues to grow. As popularity grows, so does the message, you can come here and get a quick food in the middle of your fast passed life. No busy lines, no busy sit down restaurants, just a cheap easy and quick meal. Than it itself offers a lot to customers and really widens the fan base of such fast food joints. Convenience and price are two factors of the product, but only a small part of the large picture of the product. Mass producing the product is important, and I am not just talking about mass producing the product actually, but in the people's minds. Images of good looking fast food sandwiches are thrown every, on build boards, on commercials on tv, on magazine ads, everywhere you look is the image of a good tasting burger. This is very in your face advertising, but when a person needs something quick, they remember that add and that image and go back to that fast food place to eat. The image of the product that is displayed is just as important as the actual product, and the fast food companies make sure to display a good quality image, and to display it all over the place, well engrained into people's memories. All of these are strong factors to the product of fast food, but one of the next items is how the food is actually presented. Although most fast food is not different from one another, they would have you believe that it is way better than the other guys, and the competition between the chains keeps more and more original campaigns out on the market. It also leads to how they present their food, and how they get the idea of how good their food is out there to the masses. The whole idea needs to be presented that their product is nutritious, when often times it's not. A big burger may be portrayed as manly, applying to the men demographic, but overall a good image is presented. The image of the product is just as important, and much time is made sure that the nice neat little package you see on TV is well represented. The best way corporations do this is by targeting children. By targeting children, and directly complying to their needs, corporations are able to produce food and meals children want, and feel that they need to have. The "Happy Meal", is a prime example of marketing directly to children. Same thing with the toys in the meals. Little kids want them, and want to go get them. And parents sometimes just do not know when to say no. If their kid wants something, they tend to go get it for them. This relationship gets children "hooked" on fast food, and makes them customers, sometimes even for life. Parents give in to their children's whims, and because of this we see many children at unhealthy fast food places. The availability of the product is also important. It needs to be something that fast foods can get a lot of quickly, and can make by order easily enough to accommodate people's needs. You are not going to see fast food steak and lobster places, it goes against all the rules of fast food, speed and cheapness. That is why we do not see expensive fast food, it simply would not work due to these reasons. This is why we see burgers and fries, shakes and chicken as out main types of fast food. But eventually this is the product people being to expect, and the product that people begin to crave from these fast food places. And the last important part of the product, is, actually the product. The fast food companies go through much work to make their product taste good, look good, smell good, and apply to all of your senses, no matter how unhealthy it may be. If we truly knew what was inside those sandwiches and what it did to us, I do not think that any of us would eat them. But the companies do such a good job of packaging that garbage and marketing it, that we can't stop buying them fast enough. We want that product, sometimes need that product, and we will enjoy that product when we finally have it. It is all part of the consumerism that the fast food companies know we will buy into. They make their food fast, easy, and cheap, and then make it good tasting to boot, and they know they have hooked a return customer, sometimes even for life. Then eventually fast food becomes too convenient, and that is all people eat. By then we have fallen into their product trap, and before we know it we are down the road to unhealthy-ness and obesity. This is the problem will how well the fast food companies present their products. Sometimes people really can't say no to a product, and the companies know this and do nothing about it beside get rich. They do nothing to combat the attractiveness of their product, but then again why would they They are companies to begin with, and in this business to succeed, not scare people away from their good. Their products are made good, and packaged to sell. As we progress into the future, I fear that fast food will only continue to expand, as newer methods of fast food processing and of convenience become available. I am afraid that the rise of obesity will continue, and that people may not wake up enough. However, with books like Fast Food Nation, I hope people will begin to wake up and see what is going on, and then try to do something about it. I think we may see a decline of fast food intake with an increase of awareness, and we may be able to combat the obesity epidemic before it becomes even worse than it already is. The problem is, that at the end of the day, parents just want to please their children, even at the expense of their own health. The future of America and the world's health is in the hands of a fast food nation. Let us hope the future bides well for all. Sources: Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Fast Food Nation. 22 May 2007 . How Marketers Target Kids 22 May 2007 Read More